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This review has been a longtime coming, but not nearly as long as this book has been. As a fan of the Dark Tower series, any amount of time is too long to wait for another adventure with the Ka’ Tet. That being said, it should be pretty obvious that this is a good review.

First off, let me start by stating that this review is a review of the book in its audiobook format. Some would say that there’s no difference… I know some that would argue that point (looking at you Honk :P). I KID! I KID!

*NOTE* IF YOU HAVE NOT READ THROUGH THE DARK TOWER SERIES, I SUGGEST YOU STOP READING THIS NOW. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS OF MOST OF THE BOOKS THROUGHOUT THIS REVIEW, AND I DON’T WANT TO RUIN IT FOR PEOPLE THAT ARE NOT THIS FAR DOWN THE PATH YET, IF YA KENNIT.

*FURTHER NOTE* AFTER WRITING THIS REVIEW, I REALIZED THAT THERE ARE QUITE A FEW REFERENCES TO OTHER THINGS WITHIN POP CULTURE AND NERD CULTURE THAT ARE NOT NECESSARILY RELATED TO THE BOOK. I USED THEM IN THE NAME OF HUMOR. SORRY IF THESE ARE LOST ON YOU, BUT I AM REFUSING TO OMIT THEM BECAUSE THE PEOPLE THAT GET THEM WILL LOVE IT.

This is an excerpt from the “Wind Through the Keyhole” audiobook as read by Stephen King himself!

Stephen King’s new Dark Tower novel, ‘The Wind Through the Keyhole,” is now available in book, e-book and audiobook format! My copy from Audible is downloading as I type this and I couldn’t be more stoked! I know there are a bunch of DT fans that read this site, so I figured I would throw up a post with links to get the novel! Pick the version you are looking for from the place of your choice and get yourself a copy! If you’re really looking forward to “Dr. Sleep,” the sequel to “The Shining,” the audiobook has an excerpt from the book included.

*NOTE FOR AUDIBLE* this link actually get’s you a free download of the audiobook, but only if you are new to Audible.

*NOTE FOR KOBO USERS* This link actually gets you a 20% off discount if you use the code “June20off” at check out.

Above, is the trailer for the “N.” motion comic. It’s a great story, and if you don’t want to dig up the short story, comic books or audiobook, then this is a great way to check it out! I made a YouTube playlist that includes every episode of the series. You can find that by clicking here.

[youtube http://youtu.be/9LHFRF0mVho]

Above is a really rad trailer for Stephen King and Peter Straub’s “The Talisman.” This movie was never made, which sucks because this actually looks really cool!

You may know that an unabridged version of “The Stand” was re-released in audiobook format. This is great news to a guy like me that has the original unabridged audiobook (which was original in cassette tape format, then converted to mp3 and torrented by me at a much later date) and thought the quality was garbage, but still listened. Now I can get an official version with updated technology and awesome sound quality! YAY!

The intriguing part of the story is that it will not be available in hard copy, only as a digital download. That doesn’t bother me, that’s how I was going to get it anyway. I do know that this will tweak some people’s taters. This is a sign of things to come, I believe, so if you aren’t on board with digital download of your audio content, get that way. Most major record labels have announced that they will no longer be making CD’s (around the end of 2012) and will only make music available via digital download. I mention that because I think it is worth mentioning. The record labels, that used to be so up-in-arms about digital downloads, are now going to be making that their primary form of music distribution and I see other industries following suite.

Personally, I get annoyed if I want to watch a movie and it’s not available via Netflix streaming, iTunes or Amazon, because that is my preferred method of watching movies. Just like my preferred method of reading is actually listening. What can I say, I like having options. Lilja’s Library posted something about this on Facebook about a week ago wanting to know if people preferred to download the content, have a hard copy or were indifferent to the subject. The overwhelming majority said hard copy. Although, I think they thought the question was whether people preferred paper book or audiobook and so, of course, the hard copy won out. If you want to try out the digital download world, you can get a free download of “The Stand” from Audible by clicking the link below, but only if you’re a new audible customer.

What do you think? You prefer a hard copy of an AUDIOBOOK or does digital download work for you? Are you a hard copy person that is going to step into the world of digital downloading for “The Stand”? Are you refusing to get the audiobook because its only available for digital download? Tell me your thoughts here or on Facebook | Google+ | Twitter

You may remember when I was interviewed on Talk Stephen King not that long ago. Well, that interview spawned a post by Bryant Burnette over at Ramblings of a Honk Mahfah, titled “Why Listening and Reading are Not the Same Thing.” That lead to David at TSK wanting to moderate a discussion (or pick a fight, whichever) on the topic between myself and Bryant Burnette. It got kind of interesting and ended up turning into NerdFest 2012! You know how I love a good NerdFest, me…

“Mile 81” was originally released on September 1, 2011 and only as an e-book. It’s a novella with a short story, “The Dune,” tacked on to the end of it. I have a copy of the e-book for iBooks, but it is hard to read on an iPhone, so I gave up on it a few pages in.

*Note to Self: Get iPad

On January 10, 2012, it was released as an audiobook, which is my preferred method of book consumption. I listened to the audiobook and wanted to give my thoughts on it here.

“Mile 81” Synopsis:

At the Mile 81 marker on the Maine Turnpike stands and abandoned and boarded up rest area. The place, as most places in such a state, has become a local hangout for kids to do the nastier things that kids do when left to their own devices and the influence of other kids. There we find a kid, Pete Simmons, doing just that… drinking booze while throwing darts at a Justin Bieber picture and looking at nudey mags. Aaahhhwww… the good old days. OK, so I didn’t throw darts at Bieber posters, but close enough. Near this rest stop, there is a junky station wagon that is all covered in grime. When someone pulls over to offer assistance to what seems to be a person having some sort of car trouble, the station wagon opens up and bites off the man’s hand. Not in a simple way like one of us would take a bite out of a carrot, think more like really sinewy meat. You have to kind of bite in and nash at it to get through it. Brutal. The man is soon devoured by the “station wagon.” This “car” manages to take down a few more people before it is finally thwarted by three children. The other victims and those children will go unnamed and the thwarting will go undescribed for those of you that have yet to get through the story.

I enjoyed this novella and it made me think of “From A Buick 8.” Then again, I’m not sure how a person that reads this story after reading “Buick 8” could think of anything else. I am not going to go in depth about “Mile 81,” however, because I thought it was just a good story. The real highlight of this book, to me, is “The Dune.”

“The Dune” was originally published as a part of Granta’s Horror Collection back in October of 2011 and was added to the audiobook release of “Mile 81” later. This story will take you less than an hour to read, considering the audio performance is less then 40 minutes, so my synopsis here is going to be rather short.

“The Dune” Synopsis:

Harvey Beecher, a judge in his 90’s, has an obsession. In fact, you could call it an addiction not that dissimilar to Rhea’s “relationship” with the pink ball. Everyday since he was a small child, Mr. Beecher paddles out to a tiny island that is within his property to that he may look at a dune that is on this island. He is very surprised that this dune has not blown away in one storm or another, considering it’s location within the Florida keys. He was always sure that he would paddle out after a hurricane and see that the sand on this island would have been blown or washed away, but there it remained. This dune has captured his fancy because one day he paddled out there and saw the name of a friend of his written upon the dune, as though with a stick. That friend of his died a few days later. As time passed, he would notice other names appearing on the dune, and would later see a story in the paper or on the news about that person’s death. What is a person to do with such information? One thing would be to get your will and estate in order, wouldn’t you think?

I will leave off there, as going any further would ruin the experience for you. I will say, this is one of very few stories that I have read/listened to that gave me chills while simultaneously laughing like a maniac! “The Dune” far exceeds “Mile 81,” in my opinion, and I would suggest that you check it out! Sooo good! *NOTE: “The Dune” is not part of the e-book, just the audiobook. You can grab the audiobook for free from Audible or $9.95 on iTunes! So worth every penny in any case! I really wish all of King’s short stories could be as good as “The Dune,” because it has trumped them all!

I KNOW! The book has been out for over 2 months now, and not only did I just finish the audiobook, but I am just getting around to writing a review. I know… better late than never. I had to wait until I finished it before I could read other reviews about the book, due to spoilers. So I have been handling my usual sites with kid gloves. That being as it is, I haven’t read any other reviews or listened to the most recent Castle Rock Podcast. I also didn’t want to be swayed by any other reviews I read prior to finishing the book.

Here’s a short synopsis of “11/22/63:”

Jake Epping is shown a wormhole into the past by a friend of his. Jake decides, that he can do some good, and uses the wormhole to drop him into 1958, a set point in time where the wormhole leads. He decides that he will live in this new time stream, temporarily, and will use his future knowledge of events to stop President John F. Kennedy from being assassinated. The tale twists and turns through the rescue of an entire family from, what should be, almost complete devastation at the hands of the family’s estranged father, the rescue of a girl from a hunting accident and Jake’s falling in love with a woman and getting caught up in her ex-husband’s dark delusions. On his way through this journey of time and tribulation, Jake learns that the past doesn’t want to be changed and is “fighting” against him and trying to make sure he doesn’t achieve his goals.